Herein is described a sublevel of the Deep Halls, the site of our dungeon exploration in Dreaming Amon-Gorloth. Numbered encounter areas refer to the keyed map in “Keys to the Deep Halls.”

During the war, Menturoc, Ardent Champion¹ of the Solar Goddess, and the Nine Companions led an assault on 132. Gate of the Inner Redoubt (5G). The assault succeeded, and the dreaming priests were vanquished. But Menturoc and the Nine Companions fell in battle, all slain except the ardent champion, who was in a state of profound unconsciousness.

Though his wounds were slight, Menturoc appeared dead. The Radiant Host entombed the comatose body in 6. Hall of Menturoc’s Tomb and interred the Nine Companions in sarcophagi in 5. Mausoleum of the Nine Companions.

α² A sour odor of offal pervades the corridor between areas 4, 5, and 6.

4. Shrine to the Solar Goddess

The odor in this room smacks the face. The opposite wall is painted with symbols around a blank central area. The symbols are pitted and cracked, as if by blunt instruments, and smeared with offal. The blank area is marked by two stonework protrusions. Before it, an open pit is filled with refuse and crawling with giant beetles, mandibles sawing.

This room was originally a shrine to the Scarab God. Before the redoubt’s storming, when victory was close at hand, Menturoc converted it to the worship of the Solar Goddess. He modified existing symbols to fit the chief divinity and mounted a lion’s head, carved from stone and gold-plated, on the northeast wall. Menturoc fixed a decanter of endless water within the lion’s head to make a fountain. Digging through the floor, he built a bath, where the faithful might cleanse themselves.

Returning after the war, the dreaming priests desecrated the shrine and removed the lion’s head fountain. Not taking the time to reconsecrate the shrine to the Scarab God, they now use this room to keep bombardier beetles³. Adepts dump the priests’ organic waste into the former bath. They sometimes lead a few beetles out of the level. The beetles then roam the Deep Halls until they find their way back to the feed trough.

Inspection of the mural reveals many scarab symbols showing through fading over-painted areas.

Bombardier Beetles (3-12)

The beetles stay in the pit unless lured out. If they are disturbed in any way, or if a light source remains for more than two turns without a feeding, they release a defensive cloud of noxious gas with an explosive noise.

Common Knowledge:

• The scarab is a heretical symbol, for it was thought to push up the sun each morning—a task reserved for the Solar Goddess.

Research:

• The scarab is the symbol of a god who represented the rising sun and the daily renewal of life in the Amwan Culture (religion).

5. Mausoleum of the Nine Companions

Stinking offal is piled high just inside the door. Beyond, nine open sarcophagi line the walls of the room. The lids are on the floor, some broken.

After removing the heads from their corpses, the dreaming priests animated the Nine Companions, who now roam the Deep Halls in search of their skulls. (See 2. Reliquary, 2A.) Now, adepts use this room to store refuse that will be fed to the beetles in 4. Shrine to the Solar Goddess.

Other than refuse in the near sarcophagi, all are empty.

Refuse Heap: Searching through the offal may reveal the following items (50% chance per turn).

Treasure (d6)
1-3	Pouch containing 50 c.p.
4-5	Gem (10 g.p.)
6	Scarab, faience (25 g.p.)

6. Hall of Menturoc’s Tomb

Murals on the north and south walls, stretching into darkness, depict ibises, papyrus plants, tablets and styluses, apes, and moon discs. In the middle of the hall, a stairway descends.

On the other side of the stair well, an anthropoid sarcophagus rests on a 10' × 6' dais, 1' high. The sarcophagus is 8' × 5' and 5' high. Carved from limestone, its cover depicts a male figure in armor and headdress, a sword upon its breast.

Each door in this room is framed by a carved motif of repeated symbols.

• East Door: Ibises.
• North Door: Tablets.
• South Door: Styluses.

The murals continue on the walls of the west corridors, wrapping around the ends and coming back, to meet at the wall behind the sarcophagus, which hides the painting’s lower portion. On that wall, just above where the sarcophagus meets it, is the symbol of a tablet and stylus above an inscription in Sacred Signs [described later].

A TOOL TO REMEMBER
A TOOL TO FORGET

Menturoc’s Tomb

The sarcophagus rests against the far wall between the west corridors. It’s three exposed sides bare the following decoration.

East

An inscription:

ARDENT CHAMPION
OF THE SOLAR GODDESS
MENTUROC

North

Another inscription:

MENTUROC

VANQUISHER OF THOSE WHO DREAM
BUILDER OF THE FOUNTAIN SHRINE

FELL IN THE STORMING OF THE INNER REDOUBT

THE SOLAR GODDESS SHINES FOREVER ON THE SUN KING

South

Representation of a door, 5' × 3', carved and painted with images of a warrior wielding a sword, confronting enemies. Vanquished foes lay beneath his feet. The door is framed by a series of ram-headed humanoids with long, curling tongues extended.

Formerly a shrine to Thawt, god of wisdom, writing, and magic, this hall now houses Menturoc’s tomb, constructed by the Radiant Host.

Some time after the Radiant Host’s departure, a dreaming mage known as “the Renegade” reentered the Deep Halls. Discovering Menturoc’s comatose state, the Renegade spoke to the ardent champion in dream. The two agreed that Menturoc should remain entombed until the time is advantageous to take on the dreaming priests again.

Door to Dreams: The Renegade set a dweomer upon the tomb. Touching the false door triggers a sleep spell. In that way, Menturoc may speak with any visitors. See Menturoc’s Quest, below. The spell effects all creatures within the hall.

Menturoc’s Quest

Any characters who sleep or otherwise fall unconscious in this room slip into a dream. As the dream begins, the characters are lying on the floor in the same position as when they went to sleep. Looking around, they can see everything in the chamber, except any waking characters—that is, any creature not dreaming. Though there is no light, they can see anything within line of sight, as if physical objects are illuminated from within. They hear a hissing noise and a slither as a giant snake enters from the southern west corridor.

Dreaming characters have all equipment and resources, including hit points and spells, as at the moment of sleep. They can perform any action, as normal, but may interact only with other dreaming creatures.

Waking characters do not see into the dream. In the waking world, their dreaming companions are sound asleep. They may of course rouse their companions in the usual way. But events in dream happen quickly; play out the full encounter before the characters wake.

Upon waking, any character who took damage or cast spells in the dream must make a save vs. Death Ray. Success indicates any damage is ephemeral and any spells cast are remembered. Failure means any damage manifests in the physical body as the character wakes, and any spells cast in the dream are forgotten.

Any other resources expended in the dream, such as ammunition or oil, are present.

The states waking and dreaming are fully explained later.

Snake, Rock Python (1)

The dreaming priests discovered the sleeping trap and put a dream guard in the hall. The giant snake attacks any dreaming characters. In the first round of combat, the ardent champion exits the tomb, ducking through the door. He is armored and fights with a sword, attacking the snake in the second round.

Dreaming Ardent Champion, Menturoc

After the combat, Menturoc addresses any dreaming characters:

“If you will defeat the dreaming priests, cleanse the defiled shrine and reconsecrate it to the Solar Goddess. For it will then serve as a haven for those worthy of its protection.”

After delivering the quest, Menturoc dispells the sleep spell with his sword, a holy sword +5, and the characters wake only moments after having fallen asleep.

To complete Menturoc’s quest, the PCs must rid 4. Shrine to the Solar Goddess of the beetles and remove all refuse. A cleric of the Solar Goddess must then perform a consecration ritual. But first, the PCs must restore the lion’s head fountain, which is in 17. Pit of Heavy Hearts.

Opening the Tomb

The sarcophagus cover and its seam bare no marks or any other indication that the tomb has ever been opened. The 8' × 5' lid with the anthropoid relief, is 1' thick. It weighs three tonnes. To the DM to adjudicate attempts to remove the cover or break through it. The dreaming priests used a passwall spell (cast by a dreaming mage) to enter and remove all grave goods, including Menturoc’s armor and sword.

Common Knowledge:

• Demons are commonly depicted as humanoids with animal heads and out-stuck tongues.
• Often depicted on tombs, a false door is the means by which the soul departs on its journey to the underworld.

Research:

• Demons guard a series of gates through which a soul must travel to the underworld (religion).
• Thawt, inventor of the tablet and stylus, presented them to Amon, who said, “Thawt, with the stylus, man writes memories on the tablet and forgets them” (religion).

7. Forgotten Archive

Threadbare rags and broken pottery litter the floor.

Here, the dreaming priests discard useless items that cannot be fed to the beetles. The clay is shards of tablets and a broken cup. The few visible glyphs on the shards are too fragmented to be deciphered. The inside of the cup is stained dark green.

8. Workshop

Three large bowls on the floor are filled with water and clay. Hanging from a wooden rack, a couple of filled linen sacks drip water. Two small mallets lay next to several damp clay tablets on a wooden table.

In the west end, carved into the wall, a human male figure with an ibis head stands eight feet high. He holds a tablet in one hand. The other hand rests on the mounting frame of a lever, which resembles a stylus and protrudes from the wall at an upright angle.

The dreaming priests recycle unfired clay tablets in this room.

Thawt’s Lever: Pulling the lever has two effects: One, the character who pulls the lever forgets everything that happened in the last 24 hours. No memories remain, including all spells, clerical or magical, acquired during that time. Two, any objects or creatures in 7. Forgotten Archive are teleported to 143. Labyrinth of Forgotten Dreams.

Sometimes, in their interpretation of the channeled dreams of Amon-Gorloth, its priests make errors. To rid themselves of any unfortunate manifestations as well as purge their memory of the error, a priest places the artifacts in 7. Forgotten Archive then pulls this lever.

Wandering Monsters

Wandering monsters on this level are Dreaming Priests, adepts (1-3), from level 4D on an errand.

Wandering Monsters, Level 2B (2d4)
2	To dispose of an item in 7. Forgotten Archive
3-4	To haul refuse to 5. Mausoleum of the Nine Companions
5-6	To feed the beetles in 4. Shrine of the Solar Goddess
7-8	To fetch tablets in 8. Workshop

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¹ An “ardent” is a paladin; a champion is 7th-level.

² I use lower-case Greek letters to denote details within a level but outside encounter areas. I’m not sure that I’ll put them on the keyed map.

³ Given the bombardier beetle’s description in Blackmoor (OD&D Supplement II, 18), I assume its appellation is an alias for dung beetle, a species in the subfamily Scarabaeinae. In Egyptian mythology, the Scarabaeus sacer, or sacred scarab, is associated with the rising sun.